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The Usos
The Usos (August 22, 1985) are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of twin brothers Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso, who appear in WWE, and are two time WWE Tag Team Champions (individually and as a team). The pair were previously managed by Tamina Snuka and are one time FCW Florida Tag Team Champions. Jimmy (real name Jonathan Solofa Fatu) and Jey (real name Joshua Samuel Fatu) are the sons of Solofa Fatu, better known as Rikishi, nephews of Yokozuna, The Tonga Kid, Umaga, and are part of the Anoa'i family. As part of the family they are also the cousins of fellow WWE superstars Roman Reigns and The Rock. World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE Florida Championship Wrestling (2009–2010) Jimmy Uso (Jonathan Fatu) appeared at the Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) television tapings on November 5, accompanying Donny Marlow to the ring. Jimmy also appeared in a dark match prior to the FCW television tapings on November 19, defeating Titus O'Neill. The Uso Brothers began 2010 by defeating The Rotundo Brothers (Duke and Bo) on January 14. In a clash of the generational wrestlers on February 18, The Rotundo Brothers teamed up with Wes Brisco to defeat The Usos and Donny Marlow. They continued their association with Marlow at the television tapings on February 25, when he accompanied them to ringside for a victory against Titus O'Neill and Big E. Langston. In March they were joined by Sarona Snuka, who began acting as their manager and on March 13, The Usos defeated The Fortunate Sons (Joe Hennig and Brett DiBiase) to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship. They made their first title defense at the March 18 television tapings by defeating The Dudebusters (Trent Baretta and Caylen Croft) to retain. They went on to successfully defend the championship against Percy Watson and Darren Young, Hunico and Tito Nieves, Skip Sheffield and Darren Young, and The Dudebusters, who they defeated by disqualification when Tamina pulled the referee out of the ring to stop him from counting the pinfall. On June 3, The Usos lost the Florida Tag Team Championship to "Los Aviadores" (Hunico and Dos Equis). Feud with The Hart Dynasty (2010–2011) On the May 24, 2010 episode of Raw, The Usos and Tamina made their debut as heels by attacking the Unified Tag Team Champions, The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd, David Hart Smith, and Natalya) The following week, Raw General Manager Bret Hart stated that he had signed them to contracts. That night, the trio cut a promo, stating that they were looking for respect for their families. They were interrupted and attacked by The Hart Dynasty, who were seeking revenge for the surprise attack the previous week. The Usos attempted to attack The Hart Dynasty again on the June 7 episode of Raw, but The Harts were ready and gained the upper hand. The Usos made their in-ring debut for the brand on the June 17 episode of Superstars, defeating Goldust and Mark Henry. Three days later they made their pay-per-view debut by losing to The Hart Dynasty in a six-person mixed tag team match at Fatal 4-Way. The Usos were scheduled to face The Hart Dynasty on the June 28 episode of Raw, but the match never started as The Usos instead attacked The Harts when they were entering the ring. The Usos defeated The Hart Dynasty for the first time in a six-person mixed tag team match on the July 12 episode of Raw when Jey pinned Smith. The Usos challenged The Harts for the Unified Tag Team Championship at the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, but were unsuccessful. On the July 26 episode of Raw, Jey Uso went against Randy Orton in his first singles match on the brand in a losing effort. They received another shot for the Tag Team Championship at Night of Champions in a Tag Team Turmoil match, where they eliminated both The Hart Dynasty and the team of Vladimir Kozlov and Santino Marella before being eliminated by Mark Henry and Evan Bourne. On the December 6 episode of Raw, The Usos were in a fatal four way tag match and were eliminated, but Tamina stayed in the corner of Marella and Kozlov upon their winning of the WWE Tag Team Championship; as a result, she turned face and left The Usos. Various feuds (2011–2013) On April 26, 2011, both Usos were drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the 2011 Supplemental Draft. On the June 2 episode of Superstars, The Usos turned face when they competed against The Corre (Justin Gabriel and Heath Slater) in a losing effort. Throughout June 2011, The Usos continued to exchange victories with Gabriel and Slater in tag team matches, while managing to defeat them in two six-man tag matches while partnering once with Ezekiel Jackson and once with Trent Barreta. As of the June 24 episode of SmackDown, The Usos have been performing the Siva Tau, a traditional Samoan war dance, as part of their ring entrance, using the dance to display their strength and energize themselves. On the July 29 episode of SmackDown, The Usos challenged David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty for the WWE Tag Team Titles, but were defeated. The Usos then began appearing on the fifth season of NXT in September 2011, by delivering post-match attacks on the team of Darren Young and JTG. The Usos then went on to defeat Young and JTG on the September 27 episode of NXT Redemption. However, just like how The Usos debuted on NXT, they were attacked after their win by another debuting tag team, Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks, and The Usos were defeated by Hawkins and Reks the next week. In the following months and into 2012, The Usos exchanged wins with Hawkins and Reks on NXT, while continually losing to Primo and Epico on SmackDown. They also feuded with JTG, who had become Tamina's boyfriend. In March 2012, The Usos began a feud with Darren Young and Titus O'Neil, after they mocked The Uso's pre-match Siva Tau. Although The Usos beat Young and O'Neil in tag team matches, they were continually defeated in singles matches. On the final episode of the fifth season of NXT on June 13, The Usos defeated Johnny Curtis and Michael McGillicutty. At WrestleMania XXVIII, The Usos unsuccessfully challenged for the WWE Tag Team Championship in a triple threat dark match against champions Primo and Epico and Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel when the defending champions retained their titles. At No Way Out, The Usos competed with Primo and Epico, Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd, and The Prime Time Players in a Fatal-4-Way Tag Team match to determine the Number 1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Champions and were unsuccessful. On the July 16 episode of Raw, The Usos made an appearance dancing with their father, Rikishi, after Rikishi made a "Blast from the Past" return defeating Heath Slater. On the September 7 episode of SmackDown, The Usos were unsuccessful in winning a Triple Threat Tag Team match for No. 1 contendership for the WWE Tag Team titles against The Prime Time Players, and Primo and Epico. The Usos then started a feud with The Ascension (Conor O'Brian and Kenneth Cameron) on the August 15 episode of NXT, with a match between the two tag teams ending in the Ascension being disqualified; the Ascension then conducted a post-match attack on The Usos. On the August 29 episode of NXT, The Usos called out the Ascension, but the Ascension ambushed The Usos and again delivered a beatdown. On the September 5 episode of NXT, the Ascension defeated The Usos. The Usos then teamed with Richie Steamboat to lose to The Ascension and Kassius Ohno on the October 17 episode of NXT. The Usos' feud with the Ascension was cut short when Cameron was released from WWE. The Usos and Kofi Kingston teamed-up to try to hand The Shield (which includes Jey and Jimmy's cousin, Roman Reigns) their first defeat as a unit, but they would lose when Kingston was pinned by Dean Ambrose on the May 6 episode of Raw. Pursuit of the Tag Team Championships (2013–2014) On the June 3 episode of Raw, the Usos began to use face paint similar to their deceased uncle Eddie Fatu, as a means of further highlighting their Samoan culture. That same night, they defeated The Prime Time Players, which began the start of a winning streak. On the June 5 episode of Main Event, they defeated Team Rhodes Scholars to continue their winning streak. On the June 24 episode of Raw, the Usos defeated Tons of Funk and 3MB (Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal) to be number one contenders for Tag Team Championship and would receive their title match at Money In The Bank. They began feuding with current champions, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns of The Shield. That week on SmackDown they teamed with Christian to a victory over The Shield. However, the following week on Raw they lost to them. On the July 12th episode of SmackDown, Seth Rollins beat Jey Uso. The Usos challenged Rollins and Reigns for the WWE Tag Team Championships at Money in the Bank, but were unsuccessful. On July 19 episode of SmackDown, The Usos was attacked by The Shield but they were saved by Mark Henry. The Usos began an alliance with Henry. The same happened the next week on Raw. ''The following week they teamed to Henry in a losing effort to The Shield. The next week on ''Raw they were defeated by Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro ('The Real Americans'). That same week on Main Event they teamed with Henry to face The Shield but were again defeated. The next week on Raw they defeated Swagger and Cesaro. The Usos competed in a Tag Team Turmoil match during the Night Of Champions Kickoff to determine The Shield's opponents in the Tag Team Championship match later that night, but were unsuccessful as they were eliminated by The Real Americans. However, the next night on Raw The Usos were victorious over The Real Americans and Tons Of Funk in a triple-threat tag team elimination match to once again become number one contenders for The Shield's championships. Over the following weeks The Usos helped Daniel Bryan from getting assaulted by The Shield. This resulted in The Usos being put into an 11-on-3 Elimination Gauntlet match in which neither of them were eliminated and the Jey became the first superstar to pin Roman Reigns in WWE. The Usos participated in a Triple threat tag team match against the team of Goldust & Cody Rhodes and The Shield for WWE Tag Team Championship at the Hell in a Cell pay per view, which they failed to win. The Usos were involved in the traditional Survivor Series elimination match at Survivor Series, teaming with Rey Mysterio, Cody Rhodes and Goldust in a losing effort against The Real Americans and The Shield. The Usos would then begin a brief feud with The Wyatt Family in early 2014, teaming with Mysterio to defeat Luke Harper, Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan in a 6-man tag match on the January 6th episode of Raw, before defeating Bryan and Bray Wyatt in a steel cage match in the main event the following week. A week later, they would defeat Harper and Rowan in a tag team match, with the help of Bryan, who attacked Bray Wyatt at ringside after Bryan left the family. At the beginning of 2014, The Usos would go on a winning streak and began to demand a Tag Team Championship match from The New Age Outlaws. WWE Tag Team Champions (2014–present) On the February 14th 2014 edition of SmackDown, The Usos along with Cody Rhodes and Goldust defeated the Outlaws and Ryback and Curtis Axel when Jimmy Uso pinned Road Dogg. The Usos received a tag title shot at the Elimination Chamber PPV against the Outlaws but were once again unsuccessful. After quickly defeating the Outlaws in a non-title match the previous week, The Usos received another title match on the March 3 episode of Raw against the Outlaws, and The Usos were finally successful, winning the titles, their first ones in WWE. The next night on Main Event, The Usos would successfully defend their titles against Los Matadores. At WrestleMania XXX, The Usos successfully defended their titles in a Fatal Four Way Elimination match against RybAxel, The Real Americans, and Los Matadores. The next night on Raw, The Usos again defended the titles against the team of Batista and Randy Orton. Both teams were counted out and The Usos were assaulted by Orton and Batista outside the ring. The Usos then resumed a rivalry with The Wyatt Family, thus allying with John Cena. At Payback; they went as far as to sacrifice themselves through tables to incapacitate Harper and Rowan, to ensure Cena with a victory against Bray Wyatt in a Last Man Standing Match. On the June 9 edition of Raw the Usos defeated Fandango and Damien Sandow. The Usos teamed up with Dolph Ziggler in a six man tag team match against RybAxel and The Miz which they won. The following night, on Main Event, The Usos picked up another win against Rybaxel. On the August 18 Raw, Goldust and Stardust defeated The Usos in a non-title match, which sets up a title match between the two teams a week later. The Dust Busters would defeat via countout, thus the Usos retaining the championships. Goldust then demanded a rematch before he and Stardust attacked The Usos, thinking Jey, who has hurt his left leg in the match, would intentionally count out to retain. The Usos then dropped the titles to Goldust and Stardust at Night of Champions, ending their reign at 202 days. They earned their rematch on Smackdown but failed to regain it Then other a rematch on Raw and failed regain again. On the November 4 edition of SmackDown, The Usos were given a title match against Goldust and Stardust in a steel cage, but failed to recapture the titles. On the December 29 edition of Raw, The Usos recaptured the titles from The Miz and Damien Mizdow after feuding with them over Naomi's entertainment opportunities. Other media The pair starred in the first episode of Outside the Ring, where they cooked a traditional Samoan barbecue. Together, The Usos made their video game debut in WWE '13 as downloadable content. Jonathan is regularly featured in the reality television series Total Divas. Joshua has also made brief appearances. Personal lives Jonathan Solofa Fatu and Joshua Samuel Fatu were born in San Francisco on August 22, 1985, and are of Samoan descent. They often perform the Samoan haka or Siva Tau before a match with Samoan tribal face paint. Their stage name "uso" means "brother" in the Samoan language. They are the sons of Solofa Fatu, better known as Rikishi and by extension, also part of the Anoa'i family. They are first cousins once removed from WWE superstar and member of the Shield Roman Reigns, Second cousins once removed with The Rock and the nephews of the late Umaga and Yokozuna. The brothers attended Escambia High School in Pensacola, FL. where they excelled at Football. They continued their football careers at the University of West Alabama where they both played linebacker. Jonathan played one season (2003) while Joshua played from 2003–2005. Jonathan Fatu married fellow wrestler and longtime girlfriend, Trinity McCray (a.k.a. Naomi Knight) on January 16, 2014. Jonathan also has two children from a previous relationship named Jaiden (son) and Jayla (daughter) as revealed on Total Divas. Joshua is also married and has 2 children. In wrestling *'Double team finishing moves' **Samoan Drop Followed up by a diving splash *'Double team signature moves' **''Alley-Us'' (Pop-up Samoan drop) **Assisted hot shot **Backbreaker hold / Diving elbow drop combination **Double back elbow followed by double elbow drop **Double headbutt drop **Double superkick **Irish whip / Uppercut combination *'Jimmy and Jey's finishing moves' **Diving splash, sometimes as a Frog Splash *'Jimmy and Jey's signature moves' **Back body drop **Diving headbutt **Double underhook suplex **Multiple kick variations ***Dragon whip ***Savate to the opponent's midsection followed by an uppercut ***Super **Running hip attack to the head of an opponent seated and leaning against the bottom turnbuckle – adopted from their uncle Eddie **Spinning side slam **Stinger splash *'Jimmy's signature moves' **Full nelson bomb **Leaping shoulder block *'Jey's signature moves' **Northern Lights suplex **Running forearm smash, sometimes while performing a corkscrew *'Managers' **Tamina **Mark Henry *'Wrestlers managed' **Donny Marlow *'Entrance themes' **"Get Up" by Extreme Music (2010–2011) **"Alga" by Jim Johnston (June 24, 2011–present; played while The Usos are performing the Siva Tau) **"Never Make It Without You (Instrumental)" by Fifth Floor (June 24, 2011–October 19, 2011; played after The Usos performed the Siva Tau) **'"So Close Now"' by David Dallas (October 26, 2011–present; played after The Usos performed the Siva Tau) Championships and accomplishments *'Florida Championship Wrestling' **FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) *'Pro Wrestling Illustrated' **PWI ranked Jimmy Uso #'296' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010 **PWI ranked Jules Uso #'291' of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010 *'World Wrestling Entertainment' **WWE Tag Team Championship (2 times) ** Slammy Award for Tag Team of the Year (2014) External Links * Jey Uso's WWE.com Profile * Jimmy Uso's WWE.com Profile * The Uso Brothers profile on CAGEMATCH * The Uso Brothers profile on Online World of Wrestling Category:World Wrestling Entertainment teams and stables Category:World Wrestling Entertainment current roster Category:WWE Tag Team Champions Category:FCW Florida Tag Team Champions Category:Florida Championship Wrestling teams and stables